South Africa holiday advice with safari for my 50th and three children

[Massivescreen]

I turn 50 next year and would like to do a big holiday. It will be me and 3 kids (17, 14, 7).

I am thinking South Africa - with a safari. I went to Jo’burg for work a few years ago and got a minibus to Pillanesberg for a few nights and stayed there in a lodge and went on 5 game drives (3 hours or so at a time) which was brilliant. I saw all the big animals. This kind of safari would be ideal for us.

However I thought maybe Cape Town might be a bit nicer.

I have no experience of Africa other than that trip for work. I just want ease really. Not desperate to hire a car (I could if needed). Want it to be a big memorable holiday. I would be happy to book flights and safari separately (as I assume cheaper) if I knew good options. I just don’t really know where to look.

I was thinking maybe £20k budget. Less if possible.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

https://sabisandsgamereserve.com/reserves/sabi-sabi-game-reserve/?gclid=CjwKCAjw6rfSBhAqEiwA_yocprLsC9CNMUVGvqbpP5UF7BB9wFIDoV0ou3UyZuK0eibx8g4MR2tRcRoCXf8QAvD_BwE&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=1033334554&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=683803826590&utm_term=sabi%20sabi%20game%20reserve&utm_campaign_type=search&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1033334554&gbraid=0AAAAADOiOygjj02IzlevTFlevLaIL3sxC

@Twiglets1 You have! Mine! Just have a discussion and I am at liberty to state facts!

Which of your options have I said don't sound good?

Most of them.

ok so you can't point to a single post where I have criticised the options you suggested.

Thanks everyone all the inputs are really helpful. I spoke to a colleague today who is going to SA in a few weeks - to Cape Town and a safari somewhere. I asked him to report back.
Genuinely grateful to everyone who commented. Thank you.

I mean they moan about most things 😂… but I hope they’ll enjoy it and find lots of things to post on their stories 😂🙄.
I think it won’t be too hot when we go. I went for work in July and had my coat on and fleece for the early morning drives.

I thought Jo’burg was v dodgy and I didn’t feel particularly safe, but around my hotel (Melrose Arch) was nice and I just went from there to the office.

Like a pp, we did an organised tour from Cape Town to Namibia, through Intrepid, but our kids were much older than 7. We spent a few days in Cape Town before the tour; the Waterfront is nice but the rest of the central area felt rather uncomfortable. I’d recommend staying on the route of the city bus tours (Waterfront actually works well for this) and using them to tour the beautiful Peninsula and wider city. Namibia was fantastic - wonderful landscape, great standard of accommodation and friendly people. Being on a tour made things much more relaxed and our trip would have fitted in your budget. Everyone agrees it was one of our best holidays ever. We did 3 days of safari, which was great, and I wouldn’t have wanted more unless changing to a different location.

Hi OP,

I live in Jhb and yes some areas are a bit dodgy, as are some in the Cape too.
But its a great city, but it is just a very different vibe to Cape Town.

Just some things you mentioned that I will just touch on. July/August is pretty cold and wet in CT, and (to us) is not beach weather. But it would be a shame to travel all the way and not go, as it is the most beautiful place.

If you want to combine a bit of beach in the holiday, then KwaZuluNatal might be a better option for this time of year. It is really mild in winter so you could head for the beach then. Snorkeling and diving is very popular there. There are also some nice game reserves in this area too. Look at Sodwana, and then you could head to Hluhluwe game reserve.

You could fly into Cape Town and then fly on to Durban King Shaka, but Richards Bay would be a closer option to Hluhluwe. You could hire a car if you feel up to it, and then use that car to do some self drive at the game reserve.

Kruger will be warmer then, Pilansberg will be fine in the day, but nights and early morning will be quite cold.

You know your 7 year old best, but mine at the age I would say 2 to 3 days would be very sufficient for game drives. Age 8 is towards the younger side of the recommended age. Longer than that would be too much imo.

Just a heads up that if you will be travelling alone with your children, your under 18's will need consent forms from their other parent with a copy of his passport/id. Or a court order if this is the case. And the children will need their birth certificates along with their passports too. They are very strict on this at customs, and there is no way around it.

Enjoy your planning. 😀

https://aquilasafari.com/

https://inverdoorn.com/

https://www.sanbona.com/

Thank you so much. This is all incredibly helpful advice.
yes I agree I think 3 days would be more than enough for the game drives.
I had no idea about the consent form. Thank you !

Hello, last year we did a 3 night safari as a family staying at Mhondoro lodge, would recommend, our safari ranger did an activity each day with the children (aged 8 and 10) outside of the game drives, fishing, shooting etc, the accommodation was beautiful, we had a hot tub from which you could watch the baboons
Combined it with a holiday in Cape Town/Franschoek. You’ll have a great time!

We preferred Kruger in general as its a proper safari park and not a private rewilded area. We visited one of the smaller rewilded areas and didn't feel it was so natural. I think there are plenty that are fine but do your homework!
In Kruger the lodge over looked a dry river bed, and we'd often see a line of animals walking along there, and elephants in the nearby pool.
We stayed in Camps Bay Beach rather than Cape Town which was great. If you can manage to get to see the penguins that is a bonus. And land based whale watching at Hermanus is great but can fail if it's too windy as you won't see any whales, but as youre5not driving you probably won't want to go there.

we did a fab overland small group trip trip with Nomad starting outside Joburg with safaris in Kruger then on to Swaziland and Mozambique. The group were lovely with a nice age mix.
They offer camping and cabins at different price points. Accommodation was good.

Also used Nomad for a trip to Zimbabwe? Namibia and Tanzania with a side trip to zanzibar at the end - it was also great - safaris were excellent accommodation more basic.

They also do Cape Town tours.

Agree that Camps Bay is a lovely area.

And @Massivescreen there are organised trips you can take to see the penguins at Boulders Beach (recommended).

I’m here now in the Western Cape so any questions regarding the weather in July fire away.

We go to SA a lot and base ourselves in the Western Cape but you definitely need to hire a car to get to the good game reserves. From Cape Town you'd be looking at a 2.5 hour drive to the nearest really nice game reserve near Montagu which is gorgeous little town. This game reserve is called Sanbona and there's another one, equally as good, very close to Mossel Bay called Botlierskop. That's a lot further from Cape Town, around 5+ hours along the Garden Route.

Cape Town is great if you've never been but once you've done Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch Gardens and the Waterfront, it's just a big city and you need to be careful walking around. Stellenbosch is a fab base, not far from Cape Town with access to lots of wineries and Franschhoek which, again, is gorgeous with loads more wineries and amazing restaurants.

We're actually going back in January for 6 weeks basing ourselves around Franschhoek, Wilderness, Plet, Shamwari, Montagu and Stellenbosch.

Happy planning for what will be an amazing trip.

we have also stayed at Mhondoro. Wonderful place and people

Loving this thread. We are planning a trip to South Africa and Botswana next year.

We plan to stay in Cape Town Waterfront for 5 nights then Franshoek for 3 nights and Stellenbosch for one night before going to Botswana. We will safari in Chobe so don't need/want to safari in SA.

For various reasons we will fly back to the UK from Johannesburg and want to get there a day early to make sure we're there in time for our international flight. Does anyone have any suggestions of ways to spend 18-24 hours in Johannesburg before our evening flight home? Or suggestions of good safe hotels?

We were told it's best just to stay in the airport hotel, is that really the case? Thanks in advance.

I stayed in the Marriott Melrose Arch and felt safe there. It was by some nice restaurants and a few shops.
Don’t recall there being much else around the hotel.
I took an uber from the airport to get there.
As well as going to the office when I was there (for work) I went to a shopping mall and restaurant at Sandton. Travelling around by uber was easy.

Thanks @Massivescreen

I'd only stay over at the airport hotels if it were to pick up a flight within a few hours. I think you might find going more north of Johannesburg better for your layover.

Look at areas like Sandton or Rosebank (if your stay had to coincide with being there on a Sunday, Rosebank has an awesome Sunday market). You can also hop on the open top bus and do a sightseeing tour. Sandton has fantastic restaurants, and you can visit Nelson Mandela square. You could also head for Fourways, Monte Casino is nearby and you could go to a show at one of the two theatres there.

Maybe even head to Melville for a day of wandering around. Such a stunning area, it's has a boho feel to it. You can even do a hike there in the Koppies if you feel that way inclined. There is a great vibe at night as well.

The Cradle of Humankind Sterkfontein Cave is reopened again now. It was closed due to some flood damage for a few years. It's about 50kms outside of Jhb and it's a World Heritage site where Homo Naledi was discovered. This really is such a good day out for any age.

If you would feel better being closer to the airport, then just hop on the Gautrain (high speed train) which goes to Sandton and Rosebank. Otherwise you can use Uber or Bolt.

Johannesburg gets very overlooked and underestimated for things to do.

Thank you so much, there are lots of ideas for me to explore there. We haven’t yet finalised the last few days of our trip so don’t know our timings but will come back to this message when we do. Thank you 🙏